veggie gardening

Welcome to 2026! It’s time to set our gardening resolutions! What do you hope to learn more about in the garden this year? What new plants are you going to try? What areas are you planning to revamp? January is time to get moving and set yourself up for big success this spring and beyond. Beds need prepping, veggie seeds need starting, citrus trees need feeding, and YES you can get a head start on planting too! Here are our top must-do’s (and don’t do’s!) this month.

Check out our January Garden Guide for more tips and remember that trees, shrubs, and perennials can be planted 12 months out of the year! The only difference is the amount of water they need depending on temperatures and wind!

1. Mulch for Many Reasons!

Let’s start off with the simplest and most effective garden must-do…JUST MULCH! A good 2-3″ deep layer of mulch is our best protection against dry drought conditions and against cold snaps/freezes. Think of mulch as insulation for your plant roots – it helps retain moisture in the soil and it provides a barrier to keep cold air out. Natural mulches also break down over time and add nutrients to your soil. Maintain a good layer of mulch, but don’t pile mulch up around the base of trees and plants. Give your trunks and root flares (where the roots meet the main trunks/stems) a few inches of breathing room for better oxygen exchange and to prevent potential fungal problems. Mulch is also an excellent place holder this month for areas that you plan to plant this spring. Mulch will help keep underlying soil active and alive, while suppressing weed growth. Clean up and mulch now, then easy planting when you’re ready!

2. Prep Soil Now for Spring Planting

January is our month to plan and prep for spring. Clean up, remove weeds, and most importantly, prep your garden beds by adding some compost! We love Nature’s Blend Compost for veggie and landscape beds, including raised beds. A good ratio is 1 bag per 12 sq. ft. of bed space. If you make your own compost, that approximate ratio works well. It doesn’t have to be exact. If working out is part of your new year’s resolution, get outside, grab your garden forks or a shovel, and turn some compost into the first few inches of soil – the best kind of exercise! Again, you can prep beds with compost and add a layer of mulch as a placeholder until you’re ready to plant.

3. Wait to Prune!

Remember – wait to do any major pruning of most plants until February! We can be tempted to do too much pruning in January because we want plants to look pretty, but you don’t want plants to think its time to start putting on new growth while we still have potential for cold snaps. Even if we do get a cold snap that damages some foliage, wait to prune because that damaged foliage will help insulate against more possible cold weather. We need to tolerate some wintery-looking plants this month.

Ornamental grasses, like Pink Muhly or Purple Fountain grass, are a January exception. They should be cut back this month. Trim them straight across (no cupcakes) 3”-4“ from the ground. Use a bungee cord or piece of rope to gather them up, then cut straight across with your shears – just like the photo above.

4. Feed Your Citrus Trees

Fertilize your citrus trees in January for more blooms, again in May/June for better fruit set, and again in September/October for nutrients. We recommend fertilizing with Espoma Citrus-Tone – all organic and highly effective. Remember to fertilize trees, including citrus, at the drip line. That means spread fertilizer in a circle where the rain naturally drips down from the leaves, not right up against the trunk.

5. Start Veggie Seeds!

January is time to start tomatoes, kale, chard, onions, carrots, beets, parsley and more from seed. We carry easy seed-starting trays, peat pots, and Espoma Organic Seed Starter soil for starting seeds indoors or on a protected/covered patio. A good rule of thumb is that once the seedlings have made their first true set of leaves, they are ready to be transplanted into a larger container outside or directly into the garden bed.

Check out our full Spring planting guide here.

6. Grow Potatoes and Onions!

January is prime time to plant potatoes and onions! We carry Red La Soda and Yukon Gold potatoes because they are better suited for South Texas growing conditions than larger varieties. Watch Matt’s video guide to planting potatoes here! Potatoes will be arriving any day now!

Plant onions in a row every 3-4″ then thin them by plucking every other green top as they grow. This will allow the onions to grow to full size. Keep in mind that both potatoes and onions need well-drained soil. Great for raised beds and containers!

7. Adjust Lighting and Water for Houseplants

Generally, most houseplants will need more light and less water this month. A moisture meter will come in handy to be sure you’re not overwatering. Experiment with moving houseplants to sunnier windows, and take them outside for a sunny day or 2. Keep their leaves clean to help them take up sunlight and prevent bad bugs. We like using a very light solution of Neem oil + water to wipe down leaves here at Gill’s.

It’s January…you know what that means…time to plant your potatoes! Check out Matt’s quick video guide – he’s our seasoned potato pro here at Gill’s. Growing potatoes is such a fun project for kids – and big kids too. The same principles apply if you’re growing potatoes in the ground, but we prefer Matt’s layered container method for bigger harvests! Watch below!

February is time to really get going on pruning, prepping, and planting to kick off spring! We always say – spring in the Coastal Bend starts on Valentine’s Day. We’re stocking up on veggies, Texas native plants, trees, lots of flowers and blooming perennials, and we’re hosting lots of garden talks and events starting this Saturday! Here are our top 8 gardening tasks to focus on this month as we head into an amazing garden season.

1. Join Us for James Gill’s Annual Get Ready for Spring Talk – This Saturday at 10!

If you want to make a really good gardening game plan for spring, join us here at Gill’s this Saturday, February 7th at 10am for James Gill’s annual Get Ready for Spring garden talk. James will go over proper pruning techniques, what to plant, how to fertilize, watering tips, and lots more. James is a walking encyclopedia of local gardening and landscaping knowledge – bring your questions! This talk is free and open to everyone. One attendee will win a $100 Gill’s gift card, and we’ll do some other giveaways too! Take a look at all our upcoming talks and events here. Next up is our Valentine’s Potted Arrangement Workshop on Thursday, February 12th at 6pm.

2. Prep Beds & Plant Your Veggies!

It’s time to start veggie favs like tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, beans, lettuces/greens, & more! Work some Nature’s Blend compost into your beds and get going. Or fill containers and raised beds with Gardener’s Magic soil and plant! Stop by and we’ll help you plan your veggie garden and get you everything you’ll need for a bountiful harvest. We’ve also got our Spring Veggie Garden Talk with DeAnna and Wyatt coming up on February 21st. Come learn and share with a group of seasoned and aspiring gardeners!

3. Start Your Spring Cleanup & Pruning Now

February is the time to get plants cut back to make way for big spring growth! Typically, we recommend waiting until February 15th to prune, but since the weather is warm and the forecast looks good, game on now! Most perennials like Lantana, Turk’s Cap, and Salvias need a good pruning back to about 4-8″ – don’t be shy! For any plants with woody stems/branches (like Esperanza and Hibiscus) that look dead or damaged from our recent freeze, do the scratch test before pruning. Start up high and scratch with your fingernail, a dime, or the back side of a knife. Don’t scratch too deep. If you see the bright green cambium layer (like the photo), that means it’s still alive! If you see brown/gray when you scratch, keep working your way down the plant until you see green. That will tell you where to cut. As always, contact Gill’s if you’re not sure or have questions about whether or how to prune specific plants.

4. Bring Back the Color!

All our favorite spring annuals, perennials, natives, roses, and bright-blooming tropical plants are arriving at Gill’s daily! We’ve entered February and the forecast looks warm and sunny, so it’s time to create bursts of color in the garden and landscape. Yes, there’s always a chance for a late freeze, but given our forecast this year, those chances are getting slimmer every day. Better to plant early and get a head start on root growth. Plus, small plants are easy to cover if need be.

5. Keep Feeding Veggies & Flowers on a Regular Schedule

Blooming plants need food! Veggies are especially heavy feeders – they need to be able to sustain blooming and producing fruit. We recommend mixing in a little Bio-Tone Starter when you plant, which contains mycorrhizal fungi that promotes root growth. Then feed with a good organic, granular plant food like Plant-Tone or Medina Growin Green once a month, and supplement with liquid organic Hasta Gro in between. An easy way to remember this is to set an alarm or calendar event for granular feeding on the 1st of the month, then Hasta Gro on the 15th. These will add nutrients to your plants and keep your soil alive and healthy too.

6. Keep Watch for Scale Insects

Scale is a variety of hard bodied sucking insects that range in appearance from white oyster shells to brown boogers stuck to the leaves of plants. Some of their favorites are Burford Holly, Bird of Paradise, Flax Lily, & Irises. They are easily controlled with a spray of organic All Seasons Oil Spray, but it must be done now before temps get too warm. The oil spray literally coats and suffocates the the eggs that are waiting for spring to hatch. It’s also good for treating houseplants that may have scale or spider mites.

Check out our February Garden Guide for more tips!

Spring has SPRUNG!! Gorgeous weather, rain in the forecast, and the nursery is bursting at the seams with all kinds of blooms! Here are our top must-do’s in the garden this March – time to get planting!

1. Get Your Veggies Going Right Now

We must say…our veggie and herb section is looking mighty good right now! We’ve got tons of different tomatoes, jalapenos, super hot Carolina Reapers, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, asparagus, lemongrass, basil, and lots more ready for your garden. Be sure to get your tomatoes going early this month so they have time to produce before it gets too warm – don’t miss your window. The rest of these can be planted any time this month, but you don’t want to wait much longer. Take advantage of the perfect weather!

2. Fertilize Regularly Starting Now (except for lawns!)

The time to fertilize is when plants are actively growing. That’s when they take up nutrients and get the most benefit from a good feeding. Flowers and veggies are especially heavy feeders because they’re working to produce a bloom and fruit. And you will certainly notice a difference with your landscape plants as well. Apply a good all-purpose organic food like Plant Tone, Medina Growin Green, or Rose Glo once a month for great results. Don’t sprinkle your granular fertilizer right up against the trunk of the plant. Instead, sprinkle at the drip line, aka where rainwater would drip off the outermost leaves. That’s the zone where plants take up the most nutrients. After you’ve applied your granular food, circle back every 2 weeks to supplement with liquid Hasta Gro. Almost everything should be fed starting now, except lawns! Wait to fertilize lawns until late March/early April.

Added bonus: When planting, add a little Bio Tone starter fertilizer to the soil when you backfill. It contains all sorts of beneficial organic matter, including mycorrhizal fungi which help stimulate better root growth. Amazing stuff!

3. Whatever You’re Planting – Add Compost!

Whether you’re starting a veggie garden, planting trees or shrubs, annual flowers, or blooming perennials, add some compost to improve the quality of your native soil. We love our Nature’s Blend or Cotton Burr Compost. Whichever you choose, 1 bag improves about 12 sq ft of clay or sandy soil and gets it ready for planting. That’s a good approximate ratio if you make your own compost too. Adding compost not only improves the consistency of your soil, it adds LIFE! All those beneficial microorganisms help turn your soil into the perfect environment for plant roots.

4. Plant Level – Not Too Deep!

When planting this Spring, DON’T PLANT TOO DEEP! Plant level with the surrounding soil (or even slightly higher) and don’t cover the top of the root ball with soil. Plants have tiny feeder roots on the surface of the root ball that are critical for taking up nutrients and for oxygen exchange. If you bury these surface feeder roots, the plant will suffocate and decline. After you plant, use a moisture meter to be sure you’re getting moisture down into the ground when you water.

5. Invite Pollinator Helpers to Your Garden

Now is an important time to incorporate plants into your garden that attract & feed the birds, bees, butterflies, moths, and other pollinators. They need your help finding food and shelter, and you need their help pollinating your blooming plants, increasing your veggie production, and eating bad bugs. Bees are drawn to most anything with a bloom but some fav’s are native Gregg’s Mist Flower, Esperanza, & Lantana. Butterflies love Salvias and Mexican Flame Vine too. Native plants like Turks Cap and Yaupon Holly produce berries for birds, and Hummingbirds love Duranta, Mexican Honeysuckle, & lots more! Keep in mind that pollinators need help locating these food sources. Think about planting several of the same plant together to help make them more visible to our pollinator friends.

p.s. If you want to learn more about bees, join us here at Gill’s this Saturday, 3/7 at 10am for a special garden talk: Beekeeping & Honey Processing with Hebert Honey!

6. Plant Drought-Tolerant Color!

Q: Can I use far less water and still have a gorgeous landscape bursting with color? A: Absolutely, you can! Given our drought situation, we’re sourcing even more of the tried and true, top-performing plants that don’t require much water once established. Think about a rainbow of Coreopsis (pictured), native Blackfoot Daisy, Mexican Heather, Bulbine, and all the different color Salvias and Lantanas – all very tough and water wise perennials that will carry you through the seasons. Think about creating some areas of interest in the ground or in pots with Gomphrena, Bluebonnets, and Pentas, all of which thrive with little water. Speaking of pots, even bright sweet potato vine is a low-water winner.

Keep in mind – turfgrass lawns are by far the thirstiest part of our landscapes. Now’s a great time to reduce lawn space by creating or expanding planting beds, converting to native groundcover like Frogfruit, or adding pathways and other features. How much of your lawn space are you actually using?

7. Come to Our Nightbloom Event Next Thursday!

Did you know we’re hosting our first-ever night time shopping event at Gill’s next Thursday evening, March 12th?! Stop by and see the nursery lit up at night – it’s magical! Stay tuned to all of our upcoming talks and events here, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook for updates.

p.s. Now you can sip and stroll at Gill’s any time – we’re stocked with cold drinks including beer & wine 🙂

Rain in the forecast, wonderful temperatures, holidays with family and friends = AMAZING time to garden! We’re all busy planting, re-designing, fertilizing, and getting ready for outdoor fun with guests. Here are our top tips for making the most of a very important month in the garden.

1. Feed Your Plants, Trees, and Lawns Too

Feeding your plants this month is a must. This includes lawns, trees, and most plants. Everything is actively growing, which means they’ll need more food to continue looking their best. Medina Growin Green is a great multi-purpose food for landscape plants, shrubs, trees, veggies, lawns, you name it! For blooming perennials, annual flowers, and veggies we really like using a good organic granular food like Medina Growin Green, Plant Tone by Espoma, or Rose Glo in combination with Medina Hasta Gro liquid. Feed with the granular on the 1st of each month, then follow up with liquid Hasta Gro on the 15th. Add these reminders to your calendar and you can’t go wrong!

Yes, you can still fertilize your lawn, even though our lawn watering is limited. Using a good organic lawn food, like our go-to Medina Growin Green, promotes root growth and long-term health, which makes lawns more tolerant of less water. Ideally you’d want to water the fertilizer in, but you don’t have to. Medina Growin Green is gentle and won’t burn your lawn. You can apply it now and water it in slowly over a few weeks. If you have trees in your yard, keep in mind that fertilizer and water need to be applied at the drip line, aka where rainwater naturally drips off the outer edge of the canopy. Therefore, if you apply fertilizer to your lawn and water it in for the trees, your lawn will get the benefit too. You can also try to time your lawn fertilizing with a light rain. We typically don’t recommend waiting for rain to fertilize since a heavy rain would wash most of the fertilizer granules away. But, given the watering limitations, taking advantage of a light rain is a good solution.

2. Watering Wands Win!

Hand watering with a watering wand that has a cutoff valve is the most efficient and best way to water, especially for new plantings. Watering plants low to the ground keeps water from escaping via wind and evaporation and keeps water off the leaves which can invite fungal issues. Watering slowly (by turning down the pressure on your watering wand or kinking your hose) ensures that more water gets down to the roots instead of running off the surface.

Keep in mind that hand watering and drip irrigation are allowed during current watering restrictions. You can hand water any day before 10am or after 6pm, and you can supplement with drip irrigation once every other week. We carry the pro watering wands that we use here at Gill’s as well as moisture meters, timers, and other supplies to help make the most of your water.

For any new plantings, including turfgrass, you can apply for a temporary exemption to watering restrictions and use sprinklers and irrigation systems in order to help get plants, lawns, and trees established. We can help you file for the exemption if you like – it’s a straightforward process.

3. Plant Blooming Perennials for Pollinators

April is time to add some blooming perennials to attract pollinators like butterflies, bees, and birds to your garden. You support pollinators (and the planet!) and in return they help you have more blooms, better production on your veggies, and a more vibrant landscape! Remember – April is when we start seeing hummingbirds! Add a few of their favorites like this native salvia greggii, native flame acanthus, red yucca, or firebush and make your backyard a preferred stop.

4. Plant Your Warm Weather Veggies

It’s time to plant hot peppers, squash, zucchini, basil, beans, and more! When starting veggies, the trick is to get the soil as active and alive as possible. Amend your existing soil with Nature’s Blend Compost (about 1 bag per 12 sq. ft.), then add a little Bio Tone starter fertilizer with mycorrhizal fungi and a good handful of worm castings when you plant each plant. Then follow our trusted fertilizer schedule – granular food (like Medina Growin Green or Plant Tone) on the 1st of the month and liquid Hasta Gro on the 15th! Remember that veggies use a lot of energy and need these regular feedings to produce – you WILL get more and better-tasting fruit with a good fertilizer schedule. Plus, strong, vigorous veggie plants are less susceptible to pest damage.

5. Mulch! Not Just for Good Looks…

We all know that fresh mulch is like a fresh coat of paint for your garden – instant makeover! But did you know that applying a proper 3” layer of natural mulch keeps underlying soil temps more than 20 degrees cooler?! A good mulch layer keeps weeds at bay, and as it breaks down over time, it add nutrients to your soil. And perhaps most importantly right now, a good mulch layer retains moisture, which means big water savings.

6. Get Ready for Guests

Get outside and enjoy the gorgeous weather and prep for gathering with family and friends! For the quickest and easiest impact outdoors, think hanging baskets full of periwinkles, coleus, hummingbird falls salvia, bougainvillea, and more overflowing with color. Some pops of color plus fresh mulch in your beds and you’re ready to host! For indoors, our favorite flower arrangements are those cut fresh from the garden and landscape, or we have some cute dried arrangements too!

How about that nice rain last Sunday?! And we have chances for more – hooray! Rain makes everybody feel better – plants, people, weeds, bugs… Here are a few important to-do’s for making the most of a good rain and keeping potential issues from getting out of hand.

Water + Mulch to Maintain Depth Moisture – Very Important!

This may sound counterintuitive, but you need to continue watering regularly even when we’re getting good rainfall. Supplemental watering after a rain will help push moisture further down into the soil and allow the soil to hold depth moisture for a longer period. This is very important during spring before we reach warmer summer temps. The better depth moisture we maintain now, the deeper plant roots will grow, which will allow plants to withstand warmer temps and longer periods between waterings. Keep in mind, it takes far less water to improve and maintain depth moisture than it does to rebuild it once the soil gets really dry. And remember – mulch is your best friend! A good 2-3″ mulch layer works wonders for retaining moisture and reducing water needs. It also insulates roots and keeps them cooler and healthier.

If you’re interested in capturing a large amount of rainwater every time it rains, reach out to us here to discuss adding rainwater cisterns to your landscape. You’d be surprised how much you can collect. Just 1 inch of rain on 1,000 sq ft of roof = 600 gallons of water!

A Few Easy Solutions for Bugs After a Rain

If you haven’t noticed already, you’ll soon notice a lot more bug activity in your garden. Don’t worry, and don’t over-treat, just stay observant. For 2 very common culprits, aphids and spider mites, use organic Spinosad Soap. If caterpillars are causing a lot of damage in the veggie garden, you can use organic Bt spray or dust. To prevent mosquitos, use organic Mosquito Dunks or Bits in your rain barrels, bird baths, and anywhere you have standing water. They’re harmless to birds, pets, and other bugs, but they prevent mosquito larvae from hatching. These can also be used to create very effective mosquito traps. Just fill a bucket with water and some leaf/grass clippings, and add a dunk or granular bits.

You may have also seen fire ant mounds appear out of nowhere after the rain. We’ve had good success using organic Come & Get It Bait to take care of them. If you have other bug questions, give us a call or stop by.

What About Weeds?

If you’re thinking of treating for weeds, keep in mind that most weed killers need several days of sunshine to be effective. So, not a good idea to use them when we have intermittent rain in the forecast. Instead, the best plan of attacking weeds right now is to take advantage of the soft ground and pull em up! One of the most satisfying sounds in the garden is that “pop” you hear when you pull a weed and get the entire root. And once again, mulch is your best friend for suppressing weeds too!

-Jesse

Woohoo for rain here in town and in the watershed!! Makes for a lot of happy plants and people. But with rain comes a major increase in bug activity, some of which can cause major problems. Here are the main offenders to watch out for and how to get rid of them.

Dreaded Aphids

You’re bound to encounter aphids sooner or later. They’re commonly found in the veggie garden and attacking new growth of landscape plants like hibiscus, Indian Hawthorn, and even Texas Sage. If it’s just a few, you can blast them off with a steady stream of water. Or use organic Spinosad Soap or systemic Cyonara if the outbreak is bad and causing a lot of damage. Ladybugs are also a great natural control – they love eating aphids.

Disgusting Spider Mites

Look for these little white specks and fine webbing…spider mites! They’re also common in the veggie garden and they like plumeria, junipers, and all kinds of houseplants. Spinosad soap is a good control.

Menacing Mealy Bugs

Look on the tips, stems, and undersides of the leaves for these white insects clustered together. If they go unnoticed for a short period of time , they will produce a protective cottony barrier over their bodies to protect themselves. Many times we hear “I have a white fungus on my plants”, but it’s usually mealybugs. Spinosad Soap and Cyonara can be used to kill these pests. Multiple applications may be needed. Thorough coverage is a must, and we recommend spraying once a week for 2-3 weeks to make sure you have killed them all. If you only have a few clusters of them at the tips of your plants you could smash them with your fingers and rinse, or cut off the affected tips and throw away the bugs in a sealed bag.

Hungry Caterpillars

Look for 2 main signs and you’ll know its caterpillars: big holes chewed through leaves and black speckles of frass (poop). If you inspect your garden every day and it’s just a few chewed leaves here and there, you can usually find the caterpillar and relocate it. If they’re causing more damage than you’re comfortable with, you can treat with organic Bt. The active ingredient, Bacillus thuringiensis targets caterpillars only. It’s harmless to birds, bees, pets, and people. We carry Bt in a hose-end sprayer, a hand spray bottle, and in powdered form called Dipel Dust. The nice thing about the dust is that its super easy to sprinkle and you can easily see where you’ve applied it.

Annoying Ants

If fire ants are present underground, you’ll see their mounds pop up after a rain. We’ve had good success using organic Come & Get It Bait to take care of them. Sprinkle on the mound, and they’ll take the bait down into the colony and die. You can also drench the mound with Spinsosad soap or Orange oil.

Nasty Squash Borers

Your squashes are in danger! Squash borers love to bore into the mases of the stem of your squash plants and eat them from the inside. To prevent them from getting in, spray the stems of your squashes with Spinosad Soap. You can also inject your squashes with a simple solution of Bt to kill them if they’re already inside. Just mix Bt with water as the label recommends, then fill a syringe and inject the base of the stem.

Gross Scale Insects

The photo above is a leaf from a Cast Iron plant that a customer brought in. This one happens to be infested with 2 different types of scale insects. Notice the white specks and the brown gunky spots. There are many different types of scale that go after our common landscape plants like Cast Iron plant, Flax Lily, Hibiscus, Indian Hawthorn, and more. Have no fear! All-Seasons Horticultural & Dormant Oil Spray is here! Horticultural oil is a mineral oil solution that works by coating the insects and suffocating them. It’s safe and harmless for humans, pets, birds, and other wildlife, but very effective against scale insects and other plant pests. Just don’t use it when temperatures get above 90 degrees or you’ll risk burning your plants. If temps warm up, use Neem Oil sprayed in the evening.

Artistic Leaf Miners

Have you seen these abstract paintings on the leaves of your pepper plants? Leaf miners! Aside from their obvious scrawlings, they typically don’t affect plant health much. If it’s just a few leaves here and there, just remove those leaves and carry on. If it’s a lot of damage, remove the affected leaves and spray the remaining leaves with spinosad soap or neem oil, which will signal to the flying leaf miners that this is not a good place to land and lay eggs.

Flying Flea Beetles

Flea beetles are tiny – about ¼” or smaller. They leave their signature pin size chew holes in newly planted herbs & veggies. They’re also fond of flower buds just before they open. Spinsosad soap will take care of them. Plan to spray late in the day or early evening when bees are not foraging. It is safe for bees once the spray dries.

Grubby Grub Worms

We’ve been seeing June bugs, which means grub worms will follow soon, typically early to mid May. If you want to prevent them from doing damage to your lawn, use Bonide Insect and Grub Killer granules. In this case, ‘season long’ means about 3 months. So, you may need another application in mid July.

Abundant Pill Bugs

Pill bugs aka rolly-polies are everywhere right now. They’re actually crustaceans, not insects. They usually don’t cause much damage to plants, but if they’re out of hand, you can treat with organic Sluggo Plus. Or, you can get them drunk… Fill a cat food or tuna can half way with beer, and the pill bugs will crawl in, get drunk, and drown.

Vampiric Mosquitos

They’re sure to be hatching as we speak… To prevent mosquitos, use organic Mosquito Dunks or Bits in your rain barrels, bird baths, and anywhere you have standing water. They’re harmless to birds, pets, and other bugs, but they prevent mosquito larvae from hatching. These can also be used to create very effective mosquito traps. Just fill a bucket with water and some leaf/grass clippings, and add a dunk or granular bits.

1. Join Us for Workshops & Events!

We’ve got a big May planned here at Gill’s with another round of fun workshops and events. Next weekend, on Saturday, May 9th, we’re inviting kids to come pot up a free flower for Mom for Mother’s Day. The following week, we’re hosting our first ever Ikebana workshop led by our fav local floral designer, Julia Prohorova aka Wild Veggie Bouquet! We’ve got Bigfoot’s Rockeaters coming for a cactus growing talk later this month, plus round 2 of our Nightbloom Market after-hours shopping event – this time with more vendors! Click here for more info, RSVPs, and tickets!

2. Plant Blooming Perennials and Trees

It’s time to plant lots of different blooming perennials and blooming trees. Get them established in May so they are rooted and acclimated to withstand warmer temps this summer. Staples like Esperanza, many varieties of Salvia, Lantana, and tons more are all blooming beautifully right now. And blooming native trees like Retama and Wild Olive are looking great right now. Added bonus: blooming perennials and trees attract lots of butterflies and hummingbirds!

3. Plant and Harvest Veggies

Warm weather veggie time! Plant all kinds of peppers, zucchini, squash, melons, and okra this month for continued harvesting into the summer months. If you planted tomatoes, cucumbers, and other early spring veggies, you’ll be harvesting now or very soon. Be sure to harvest often! It keeps birds & insects from finding them first, and helps redirect energy to produce more fruit. If you do have insect issues in your veggie garden, our go-to organic control is Spinosad soap – safe for food but takes care of a lot of common bad bugs.

4. Mulch for Many Reasons!

We all know that fresh mulch is the quickest garden makeover! But did you know that applying a proper 3” layer of natural mulch keeps underlying soil temps more than 20 degrees cooler?! A good mulch layer keeps weeds at bay, and as it breaks down over time, it add nutrients to your soil. And perhaps most importantly right now, a good mulch layer retains moisture, which means big water savings.

5. What About Watering?

Speaking of watering, despite long-term drought conditions and potential water emergencies in the news, we need to continue to water smartly. Watering consistently now (just enough) will help maintain depth moisture, make the most of rainfall, and help plant roots grow deeper – all of which will reduce water needs and save water in the long run. Does all of our plant water need to come from the tap? Nope! You can conserve a lot of city water by collecting rainwater, A/C condensate, water from dehumidifiers, and re-using gray water from washing machines and dishwashers. If you’re interested in collecting a lot of rainwater, the Gill’s landscape team installs custom rainwater collection systems using stainless steel cisterns that are very attractive in the landscape and last a lifetime. Just 1″ of rain on 1,000 square feet of roof space can catch 600 gallons of rainwater. Get in touch!

6. Set Your Mosquito Traps!

We are big fans of the simple bucket mosquito trap. Just fill a bucket 3/4 with water, add a good handful of lawn or plant clippings, and toss in a Mosquito Dunk or Mosquito Bits. These dissolve in the water and release bacteria that target mosquito larvae and kill them before they hatch. And they’re organic and not harmful to birds, bees, pets or humans! Set a few of these traps, sprinkle some organic Mosquito Beater granules around walkways and patios, and use Skeeter Screen incense sticks near where you’re working or hanging out outside. Remember that using chemical mosquito foggers kills all the good bugs too, some of which help control mosquitos and other bad bugs.

7. Gifts for Mother’s Day and Graduations

Let us help you find something pretty, useful, or both for the gardening moms and grads in your life. Pottery, birdbaths, wind chimes, quality garden tools, hats, gloves, garden decor, plantable greeting cards, gardening books – lots of options. You can purchase Gill gift cards online here. Or come find the gift that gardeners love most – plants 🙂